The President's Death— Its Import. 



A S 




PREACHED IN THE 



Mm petsititifi cnuRCii, immi m\m, 



J^IPIRIX. IS, 1865; 



On the Day of President Lincoln's Funeral, 



BV THE PASTOB, 



HEA . D^V^'IEL UICE. 



EI^s' 



^ 



Kkv. DAXIEL RICi 
Dk.vr Sir— The uii 
sermon upon the dot 
meet the general wishV 
if not ant;itfoni:;tic to 



T/ ^ ., "^-J ^ '"*' LaFayktt):. April I'.!, iS<\~. 

:bi..'^^ .• i'SKaT^rtn'^N CuS'rch : 

'ho tills iiiT.riViig li!!;l thb pleasurt- of listening to your 
if our l)elo\ed PresiiMnt, Abraham Lincoln, believing it would 
if the (.ominunity to j^\ e the same published, respectfully request, 
i/^shes.iforn ((ii^of the same for the purpose indicated. 
VeT yiw t» . » ?o ^ir<. <iKOK(,'E 13. WILLIAM?!, 

I>AVI1) srEX("i;K. 
i;EO]{(iE E. cr.MINtl. 
TllnMAS WAin\"ICK. 
•iiili.X T.r.EEK?:. 
WILLIA.M E. LIDLOW. 



La1'aykt-4j:, A]iri! Iv, Imo. 
(tKNTLK.Mi:.\ : lleeeive my thank.s for your generous api'reciation of my mornins sermon, 
f'Ccasioned by the sad and sudden death of our honored Chief Masi.-^trate.' It was neees- 
.-•arily prepared uith jrreat haste after reeeiving the telegraphic dispatch fixing the time for 
the funeral services. 'With this explanation T cheerfully accede to your rcjuest. and here- 
with furnish you a copy. 

■\Vith much esteem, truly yours, DAMEL HIOE. 

To Mc.-srs. (!ko. 15. ^Vli.l,1 VMS. I»vvii> •■^i-kntki:. Owo. E. I'cmim, and others. 



LApAYKTrK. April 111, L'^tij. 
To Kkv. DAXIEL KK'E, Pastor oi' thk ."^kionp Pi:KsiiYTi:itiAN Ciuroi, LaFaykttk, 
Inpiaxa: 
Dkar Sir— The undersigned respectfully re<iuest a copy of your sermon, on the death of 
I'resident Lincoln, f(n- publication. 

We are very truly and aflTcctionately yours, 

RCSWELL C. SMITH, 

W. A. POTTER, 

L. EALLEV. .Jr.. 

II. W. CHASE, 

A. EARL, 

WILLIAM S. PECKIIAM. 

TlioMA.< P. E.MERSUN, 

J. P. LISE. 



LaFaykitf. April 2(1, lS().i. 
(iE.NTi.KMKS : It pave me ^^incerc" pleasure to receive your note reque-ting a eoi>y of my 
sermrin occasioned by the death of the President' I had previously received a similar n()te 
from a number of young gentlemen, and have placed the same at their di>!Mis;il. If it shall 
•uliscrve in but the least degree the cause of Christian patriotism, the result, I know, will be 
eipially gratifying to us all. Yours, respectfully, 

I'AMEL RICE. 
Messrs. Uos«ki.i., C. Smith, W. A. Phtteii anil others. 



k^^'^^' 




"Ss 



And the king lamentoil (iver Altnor, anil said. Died Abncr as a foul dietli. David sware 
saying, .--o do (Itid to me, and more also, it I taste breail or aught else until the sun be down. 
And the king said unto his servants. Know ye not that there is a prince and a great man 
fallen to-day in Israel '.' 2 Samuel iii ; '■V.'i, .'15, 2S. 

With wliat measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. jMatt. vii ; 2. 

And Ailonibc/ek said, I'hree seore and ten kings, liaving tlieir thumbs and their great 
toes eut oB', gathered tlieir meat under my table ; as i have done, so (Jod hath reiiuited me. 
Judges i ; 7. 

And Samuel said. As thy sword hath made women childless, so shall thy mother be 
childless among women. 1 Samuel xv ; MM. 

W'o ti) him that siioileth, anil thou Avast not sixiiled, and dealest treaclierousb- and they 
dealt not treai-herously with thee ! When thou shalt cease to spoil, tlmu shall be siiuilcd ; 
and when thou slialt make an end to deal treacherously, they shall deal treacherously with 
thee. Is. -xx.xiii : 1. 

He disapiiointeth the devices of the crafty, so th.at their hands can not perform their 
enteriirise. lie taketh the wise in their own craftiness, and the counsel 'of the froward is 
carried headlong. J(d) v; 12, IM. 

And remter unto our ncighliors seven fold into their liosom the rei)roaeli wherewith they 
reproached tliee, Lord. Ps. Ixxix ; 12. 

liehold it it is written: lietore me; I will not keep silence, but will recompense, even 
recomi)ense into their bosom. Is. Ixv : (i. 

Rejoice, ye nations, with his people, for ho will avenge the blood of his servants, and 
will render vengeance unto his adversaries, and will be merciful unto his land and his 
per)ple. Deut. .xx.xii ; 4."). 

What a moral wealtli in the Bilile! How many passau'os adapted to every 
possible exigency of national or individual experience! What a sermon for 
the hour, or volume of sermons, ratluir, in the inspired utterances I have thus 
read consecutively. 

To-day a nation gathers round the coftin of her Chief lluler; and the nations 
of Christendom will Ijow their flags at half mast, as the_y receive the message of 
his untimely death. 

To-day a million door-bells are hung with crape; and all the towns and cities 
and puljlic buildings of a great people are draped in mourning. The very 
engines — the nation's iierj^ steeds — move on their solemn errands, with their 
taees veiled in black, xind they all speak the language, " Know ye not that 
there is a prince and a great man fallen this daj- in Israel?" 

1 feel sure I shall perform a grateful service for you all, if J seek to sketch — 
though in the ver,y briefest and most imperfect manner as so brief a time since 
yester-morning's dispatch would only permit — a few of those traits of character 
that made him great, and those heart evcellenees that have called forth spon- 
taneous grief, at his sad and sudden death, from the heart of a whole people; a 
grief bounded by no party lines, and no shade or color of the "human face 
divine." 

After this, as led liy the Scripture readings of my text, I shall seek to add a 
word of instruction and consolation on the import of this death. 

In glancing at the leading excellences of his charactei", I speak not as a 
partizan, Init as a christian minister, as an American citizen, as a common 
mourner with you all, while we stand by the grave of him chosen by the nation 
to be the nation's Head. 

Of the incidents of his early life I have neither time nor need to make men- 
tion. The}' are already familiar to j-ou all. I shall only glance at some of 
those characteristics of the man that have been strikinglj^ developed by his 
public career; that we shall love to recall in his memorj', and tell our children 



That, thej' adorned the life of the last Chief Magistrate of this great Repiil)lic ; 
and then hold them up, for their imitation, as having in so great a degree ren- 
dered him_ worthy of the high position he fdled in the most eritieal period of the 
nation's history. 

And first of all I place his patriotism. No one can read his brief addresses, 
when lirst elected President, delivered on his way from Springfield to AVash- 
ington — at Toledo, at Indianapolis, at Cincinnati, at Columbus, at Steubenville, 
at Pittsburg, at Cleveland, at Buffalo, at Albany, at Poughkeepsie, at New York, 
at Philadelphia— and not sec this gushing forth in all his utterances, welling up 
from his very heart. How earnestly he labored to convince the South that he 
.should be no sectional President, and thus if possible to prevent the threatening 
war. This is is the beautiful close of his first inaugural : 

" In your hainl;?, iny dii^.^atLsiicd fullow-coiintrynien, an<l not in uiine, is the momentous 
i.«sue of civil war. The <Joveniineut will not assail you. You can have no ccmfliet without 
being yourselves the ufrfnessois. You have no vow registered in heaven to destroy the 
(xovernment, while I shall have the most sulemn one to i)reserve, i)rotect and defend it. I 
am loth to close. AV^e arc not eueuiics hut friends. We must not be enemies. Though 
passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of 
memory stretching from every l>attlc-tield and patriot grave, to every living heart and 
hearth-stone, all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again 
touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature." 

This is the heart shot dead with a Intllct irom hearts so responding to such 
words as these. What an answer to such gentle heart-utterances was a cold 
leaden Ijullct ! Truly did the President say in his last inaugural, in his inimit- 
able idiosyncrasy of statement: "Both parties deprecated war; but one of 
them would make war rather than let the nation survive, and the other would 
accept war, rather than let the nation perish, and so the war came." When 
anxiously weighing the question, whether to issue an emancipation proclama- 
tion, he declared, "If I knew it would contribute to the salvation of the Union, 
I would issue it. If I knew it would hinder the salvation of the Union, I would 
withhold it." It was the Union, the salvation of the whole country that was 
" first, last and midst " in all his thoughts as the nation's Ruler. 

And second. His patriotism was characterized hj a generous candor and 
freedom from party spirit. T\\q. discussion between him and his rival candi- 
date, Stephen A. Douglas, in Illinois, stands at the head of all our political 
canvasses, in courtesy, as well as in intellectual acumen and close logic. 

In his speech at Cincinnati, he said to tliose differing from him in politics, 
" We mean to remember that you are as good as we ; that there is no difference 
between us other than the diU'erence of circumstances. We mean to recognize 
and Ijear in mind always, that you have as good hearts in your Ijosoms as other 
people, or as we claim to have, and to treat you accordingly." In accordance 
with this statement he has appointed his leading Generals, and many of his 
most important civic olHcers, irom those, by their associations, connected with 
a different political party from his own, only asking, are they capable? arc they 
loyal to the Union? Ami tlu-se are among his warmest friends and his sincerest 
mourners to-day. 

Third. I place his loec of li.bcrtij. Said he in his speech in Philadelphia, in 
Independence Hall, "I have never' had a feeling, politically, that did lu^t spring 
from the sentiments embodied in ihe I)(>rl:iration of Jiulcpendencc'. I have 
pondered over the trials that were eiulured l)y the officers aiul soldicr.s of the 
army who achieved that independence. I have often inquired of myself what 
grca't principle or idea it was that kept tliis confederacy so long together. It 
was that sentinuuit in the Declaration of Independence which gave liberty not 
alone to the people of this country, l)Ut I hope to the world lor all future tiine. 
Now, my friends, can this country be saved on this basis? If it can, I will 
consider myself one of tlu; happiest men in the world, if I can help to save it. 
But if this country can not be saved without giving up that principle, I was 
about to say I would rather be assassinated on this spot than surrender it." 
Menu)ral>le words ! He would not surrender it, and for this he was assassinated. 

On no one measure of his administration was his mind exercised so long and 
so deeply as the issuing of his emancipation proclamation. The country was 
greatly divided in opinion with regard to such a policy; and his own mind was 



imicli in doubt, iuquiring and considering and seeking to come to the right 
docisiou. And then when lie reached that decision, he closed his prochimation 
with these memorable words, "And upon this act sincM-ely l)elievcd to be an 
act of justice, warranted by the Constitution up(in military necessity, I invoke 
the considerate judgment of mankind, and the gracious lavor of Almighty God." 

As events have transpired, all now concur in the wisdom of that decision. 
And it will doubtless in all coming generations be considered the crowning act 
of his whole administration. It will mark another epoch in the history of the 
l)rogress of universal freedom. Because of this one act his name shall never 
die. For all freedom's parchmenis shall read In-ighter as the world grows freer. 

A fourth characteristic of Abraham Lincoln was his Jirmncss. No better 
illustration can be furnished than his course with reference to his emancipation 
proclahiation. ])eliberate and cautious and considerate in coming to his 
decision, he no sooner reached it than he stood immovable as the beetling cliff — 
against which the ocean waves, for a thousand j'ears, have dashed and broken 
and been rolled back again. 

Said he, when friends, manj' in number and high in inilixence, sought to per- 
suade him to recall the proclamation or modify it, "If the people should, by 
whatever mode or means, make it my executive duty to re-enslave such persons, 
another and not I must be their instrument to perform it." He was always the 
backbone of his cabinet, and the ruling executive of the nation. Though there 
were men in his cabinet, deemed stronger than he before his election, yet his 
policj^ has always been his own, since he was first inaugurated, and has carried 
sway. 

Fifth. I need but to name his honesty and Jcmclness of heart. The former 
has l)een tested in so many ways and shone out so transparently, that the Avhole 
country long since christened him "honest Abo:" and the latter seemed a 
part of his very nature. With a heart tender as that of woman, gentle as that 
of childhood, and loving and pitiful like the master's, a Iruer friend never lived. 
Nor were there in him mightier elements of his jiower than these. 

]]ut finally back of all these qualities and above them all, was his firm faith 
and his frank and manly avowal of his faith in God. In his farewell words to 
his friends, when he first left home for Washington, he said, " My friends, a 
duty devolves on me Avhich is perhaps greater than has devolved upon any other 
man since the days of Washington. He never would have succeeded, except 
for the aid of a divine providence upon which he always relied. I feel that 
I can not succeed without the same divine aid which sustained him, and in the 
same almighty Being I place my reliance for support, and I hope 3-011, my 
friends, will all pray that I may receive that divines assistance without which I 
can not succeed, but with which success is certain. Again I bid you all an 
affectionate farewell" From that hour the pi-ayer of the American people 
followed him, and his faith in prayer grew, and his religious nature received 
higher development. AVe know incidentally — as we know of George Washing- 
ton's prayer, in the thicket, in the dark hour of his couutty's perils — that his 
first morning hour has been held sacred for the closet. We have been told that 
he himself remarked to a friend, that in the presence of the bloody scenes and 
agonizing struggles of our mangled and dying soldiers at Gettysburg, he gave 
his whole heart to Christ as ;l personal Savior, and his country's preserver and 
Redeemer. 

In his speech at Buffalo, he said, "For the ability to perform iny work I trust 
in that Suprem'e Being who has never forsaken this favored land. Without that 
assistance I should surely fail. With it I cannot fail." 

In his last inaugural comes out the loyalty of his heart to the supreme throne 
in these expressive words : " Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray that this 
mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet if God will tiiat it con- 
tinue until all the wealth piled by tlie Iiondman's two hundred and fifty years of 
toil shall Ije sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be 
paid with another drav/n by the sword, as it was said three thousand years ago, 
so still it must be said that the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous 
altogether. "With malice toward none, with cliaritv for all. with firmness in the 



and for his widow and orXn. "^ do -d "'"l "'T '^''"^ •^''''' '"^^'^ '""-"^ ^'^^ battle, 

do such a deod. His h, " Vm iJ h f'*? "•"^•'' ."?« to believe amy man could 
petual and alNsuiS.'ie. t i , h .v H "I "^' '"' '''•^^■='^'<«' t^'*-"'^^' ■^'>^iil '"^ !»« P-r 

like murder of r^'^ m n^^.;. n h r'^M [r-''^-'"'-'; Over the denlon- 
Never had he so much w. the n^ n s .^i'' " "'^''^" ff' "^^'•' ^° ^^'^■^l* 'o^I'^.V- 
nation's confidence as the da^M e Ip,! ) 1, 7*^' *^'^^^ 

ineud a grateful confidence that the Gcfv'c.-n L I''' '''^' '^''^' '"^ "-^''-^''^^'^'l to a 
any day since he was first^ c£.en iC^Sc H "^ '''■"'•^'^'" '1'"" '* ''^^^ ^'^^" 

nation till f],e nation trusted hir^udim..i . '' 1>''«/'."''^'"*'-^^ ■"■'•'>^^'" ^n the 
was swayed by his i. 1 uenc • tiH h^^^^^ ti'u-sed his heart : till the press 

rebel Capital; 'till he .1 "eUi yei he !:.f P'^i-fo»a.y taken possession of the 
Chief; till he could sefo 4-Tnto tllo^. r-'''Vi°^''^' .^'•^'^^"^ Commander-in- 
anticipate a good old a^r^it i. /undJr 1 i?n '"'^ "*^T"'^ ^ ^•" ''" '•'-''' 
crow.^ with the laurels ?t^ti^^;;:;rlj:t;i '""' ''' ^^^ "^ ^■■•■'•• 

"comeuphioher" Wihii i. assass.n meant, he but received the call 
-ork; wSh IHs Win™ ^Ih^; t'::^^ -th his heail lull of his alloi;!] 
hun And may we not hope and tr us L l" ' ""''",- ^^'^ ^'' «"nmons found 
final and enrapturing, "Well done ill ^J'^V'', '^''''^'' ^'^^ ^^^'-^^ter's eulogy, 
joy of thy Lord." 'vL,, If' .^.''"•'' '^'""^l '"'5l ^^'tl>'"l servant Enter into it 



joy of thy Lord." f „,,. we ;,ou n WnTf >■ r''^ ''''"'''' ^"t^-" i"'" ^h« 
that being the nation Chief nshLrif^'" " T? f ^ ^'•''^♦^^"^ '" God, 
much for the nation while hrive I tl If l' r. ''' ^"^'^^''^ ^° accomplish so 
of imitation, and so much of cl^f f ti 1 /•'' '7"'-' '" '"'^ example worthy 
"even as others ^ho l.ave no hope ' ' ^"^""^'^ '" ''^''^^ ^'''^^ "'"""' not 

But how with reirnnl f/> fl,„ y I , 

tills death to the U^fou he 'olZX L''''i'''^'^"^^"\'- ^^'^^^^ '« ^he import of 
dom, to which he gave Is li^ ■ m (t 1"'',' u"^ '^ l^'' ^''^"^'-^ "^ universal free- 

And again, what s He in n' ' • u }"''\' ^^ ^'^^^ " martyr? 
he put tbrth' alPi i " . iH t 'and' 1 ifm ' "V'^ '' ''L' "'''f'""' ^° «^-"^''« ^'-'^ 
buried, so still and deep as to f^nd T "r^ ^^ '° ^""^^^^ to see dead and 

In his deith ,i;'i t, " "'^'^''"'''■''^■t'"" fiorn? 

victory. trNl^'g nt''iS^^^,r'"rdf-t-nd the rebellion win a 
conspiracy, that it «^,shu\Tnoth!',m^ be developed as to the extent of the 
alive at Fort i 'il low , ha starved I ''.f"'." ^'T' ^hat roasted soldiers 
Andersonville; that fVoi H,emTo 1. f ? , '^"r ^"'^"'^^•'"- «k«Ietons at 
robbed theirdead pocdce^ ^ ,)",?, p 7^'' "" ■'^'^^'^ i«'« '^''^ >» ^^ibby Prison ; that, 
living heart tl.Mt'w ,f l] [ ,' ,^ ''nsop.nngs of their skull-bones. The same 

assassinators and inyemli 'is w'L in "''''' '''"^ , r''^'^^^ ^^""'« "f ^■'•^^'- to 
ts horrid hatetulness' a,^:^ i*; f ' ^r^""-'-''^ '^^'- this deed too, with all 

I'on and repulse to lovali, S 7 j l'"'\T'", '^ ^''^'^ triumph to the rebel- 
the fool dierh, • did he d ^v/r ntdi "'tfd ^^'^'l"^"'" ^^'"^°'"' '^ '^" "^^'^^ as 
overmatched, or circnmve ued •' For l'''"""!; '''""'"^'' ^''^'^ <•'"'''« P'^ovidence 
tragedy that does not reeo n izo i A? i ,^ '*^P'^'^.'^t« '!".y version of this s.d 
overruling providence \ Pd hold 'n f V " w '" J' T'^'V" ^^^" -'-'-^^P ^'f food's 

tions of our text, we answer ^^, AK^ '"' T^ ^""T-^l '^^ ^'^^ '^'^'^'^t ^'^'i"« '-^vela- 
it was said of .Sampson so w's j^'!'^'^''^"!. V'-"'^^?c t^' ^^'«''" ^'^ ■'" vain. But as 
at his death, were m^e tl an The ^ ■ ""' "^ ' ' ? ■ ^''' ''"^"^ '''""'^ '^« ''^'^^^ 

catch glimpses of the meani ' of^ 1 ^ l"' '"'''' •" '"' F""" ^^"^ ^'^" ^'••'^«^'^- 
providences having in diae the ,tl /''''' '"vstenous of the many mysterious 
this wicked rebellion and o.nnl ".''""' "'P^'"' f"^ ""^^- "-^termination of 
.'nail be the "jaw-bone of an as" T' k'm ''"''' '"u"'" '^'^"'^^ «^ providence, it 
at home and abroad tS h. I ./ '"^ '^"" smite that rebellio.v hip and thigh, 
nations, so loatSa^dh.efnl iT?"? t''^^ I'c i-otting in the face of t^ie 

caring to go near enolh to U fnU "-ll- ^''''''i "'^ '^^"'^^'^ «^- '""^ «'^'^" l>« ^^"nd 
s enough to It to bury it from human sight. God hath said to 



the rebellion, ''As ye mete it shall be measured to you again;" and God's 
providence looks after the retribution. For God hath said, " X'engeance is 
minCy I v'ill repay. " He taketh the crafty in his own craftiness." And he 
knows how to do it. When God's providence has in charge a retribution, man's 
arm is too puny to help or to hinder, except as it executes. 

I should love here, did time permit, to begin with the very birth of this 
rebellion, and trace the path of God's retributive providences from the beginning; 
and show how awful they have been, and how tenfold more awful they threaten 
to be in the days immediately to come. I should love to start with that corner- 
stone of the rebellion, the negro an inferior race and born to be the white man's 
slave, and show how it flings defiance alike, in the face of the whole Bible 
historj', of one blood, and one race, and one brotherhood: and in the face (jf 
the whole Christian Gospel, which teaches both by the word and the example of 
the Highest of all, that the highest should serve the lowest; the inchest, the 
neediest; the freest, those fettered with heaviest chains; that he who serves 
most is greatest of all. And then I should love to ask you to gaze with me on 
this latest, newest, " most superior" civilization, already starting, like Cain, on 
its wandering march as a vagabond, branded of heaven in the sight of all the 
nations, and fearing, lest "whosoever findeth me shall slay me." I should love 
to read to you its jubilant rejoicings, when the rebellion fired its first gun on 
Fort Sumter, and its exultant boast of erecting its snaky banner over the dome 
at Washington, and even over that old cradle of liberty at Faneuil Hall; and ' 
then ask you to read, as you will almost in our next dispatches, how the hissing 
rattlesnake lies trampled in the very dust at the foot of the fort, while the hero 
of Sumter waves aloft again the same old Star-Spangled Banner, come forth to a 
new resurrection of glory, and standing underneath its rejoicing folds one of the 
orators of liberty, of world-wide renown, sends forth such burning, leaping 
words of freedom as shall echo and re-echo through all that Southern realm, till 
they frighten the very name of slavery from all the caves, and dens even, where 
the bats flit and the owls hoot, and the marshes where the cormorants seek their 
Tprey. J shoitld love to walk with you along the streets of Charleston, the pet 
tiower of the Palmetto State, and ask you to look at the naked stalk, withered 
and burned, if indeed the very root be not dead and rotten. I would point you 
to the " Old Dominion," of right roj'^al blood, and right royal bearing, too, 
^'primus inter primos ;" noio in her tattered robes; in her pride, in rags; a 
mendicant by the wayside. I would go with you through the streets of Balti- 
more, where was shed the first blood of the Massachusetts soldiers, and ask you 
to gaze on the very strongest hold of loyalty south of Mason and Dixon's line; 
offering $10,000 bounty for the murderer of that President she four years ago 
sought to assassinate. I would point you to three million slaves — to found an 
empire on whose crushed humanity the rebellion sprang into being — now with 
the musket and the bayonet walking over their dead masters on the battle-fields 
where they picked cotton under the lash, and keeping guard over their living 
masters, where they were exposed for sale at the auction block. I would point 
to the bravado of Southern chivalry against Northern cowardice, and ask you if 
a pierced bladder was ever seen more empty of its infiating gas ? Nay more. 
I would tell you how this very rebellion was forced in the very teeth of all its 
most horrid fears and Ijitterest prejudices, itself to put arms in the hands of its 
slaves, thus with its own dying agonies bursting asunder the fetters it had staked 
all to weld. 

But the subject grows upon me and I can not follow it. What a commentarj'' 
on God's retributions in accordance with fhe teachings of our text- I must not 
close, however, without alluding to the import of this death, though we but see 
the dawning light of its unfolding revelations. God does not permit such a 
death, in such a manner, without working out results that load the perpetration 
with infamy, and cover the providence with trailing clouds of glory. 

And first. We know this event shall deepen the whole world's hatred of the 
rebellion. Some have apologized for it. Even rulers of nations in Christendom 
have patronized it. Some have fed it and fattened it, and given it gold, and 
givea it bayonets and leaden bullets, and mammoth guns and iron rams. God 



6 

Las determined to permit it to develop all its heart. Some have thought it a 
very passable christian. He has determined to tear off its sheep's clothing and 
sliijw JKjw it is possessed of seven devils. And this deed of assassination shall 
Hush its lurid gleams on its naked heart. For who shall wag his tongue to plead 
for such an assassination, so unprovoked, so deadly, so demoniac? The rebel- 
lion fired this, hall of that pistol into its own heart, and it seems past all 
doubt, God meant it should. 

But second. That ball shall not hurt Abraham Lincoln. The whole nation 
could have done nothing, with all her resources, that would so much exalt him, 
or so much promote the loyalty, the unity, and so the success of tne cause 
dearest his heart, to-wit: the nation's complotest triumph and victory. This 
death does awaj', for the time being, all party lines. This is a joy to every true 
patriot to witness. Those who honestly differed from the President in their 
political views are among the foremost to come and bring their testimonies of 
sorrow and esteem, as they join the great procession on their way to the grave. 
Says the New York World, " By no other single achie%'ement could death 
have caused such a feeling of desolation in every dwelling." 

Says the New York Herald, "It is no longer in the power of the changing 
future to take away from Abraham Lincoln, as might have happened had he 
lived, one of the most §olid, brilliant and stainless reputations of which in the 
world's annals any record can be found — its only peer existing in the memory 
of George AYashington." 

Says the Daj-ton Empire, the organ of Vallandigham, " He has fallen by the 
most shocking of all crimes, and he who at this moment does not join in the 
common thrill and shudder, which shock the whole land, is no better than the 
assassin." . 

What but God's providence overruling such an event could so bring the indi- 
vidual nation to one heart of sympathizing loyalty ! to one scorn and hate and 
loathing of the accursed rebellion. And what takes place at home will occur 
abroad. Already we hear from Canada. We shall hear from France, from 
Britain, from Russia and from the civilized world. The nation indeed met a 
great loss in the d^ath of her honored and beloved Chief Magistrate. But 
God's providence did not make a mistake; did not misunderstand itself: did 
not permit this event without securing results grand enough to justify it ; yea 
more, to glorify it. 

Nor is this all, in the wa}' of providential retributions. The rebellion has 
killed Abraham Lincoln: murdered him; assassinated him, in a manner to 
shock the civilized world by the deed. What have they gained? Who succeeds 
him? One; that has more sympathy for the rebel leaders? One that will l)e 
more merciful to traitors ? lie succeeds who said to them among the last words 
ti-.ey heard in Washington, in the Senate, when their rebellion had already shown 
the cloven foot, as we are told, pointing specially to Jefferson Davis, who said 
to them, "If I was President of the United States I would arrest you as trai- 
tors, I would try you as traitors, and if convicted I would, by the Eternal, hang 
you as traitors." How wonderful the workings of providence i This same 
A ndrev/ Johnson iS President. And this rame Jefferson Davis and his associ- 
ates have all but been arrested. If they escape arrest, it %yill be but by the skin 
ol' their teeth. Some of them shall c.oubtless come into his hands. And it so, 
then did they themselves by this very assassination put themselves in his hands. 
Or, which is a ijetter form of statement, providence was too much forthem. 
" This Moses, whom they refused, saying who made thee a ruler and a judge: 
the same did God send to be a ruler." 

Nor can we yet leave our subject here. Who is this Andrew Johnson ? He 
is a Southern man. He is a life-long Democrat. He is a man in fullest 
sympathy with the laboring classes, the majority millions of the South, who 
have felt the withering blight of the overshadowing tyranny of the slaveholding 
oligarchy: who are specially interested in the overthrow of this rebellion, and 
who are beginning to long again for the sight of the good old Hag. 

Said Johnson, in his great speech before the Convention of the State of 
Tennessee that abolished .slavery last January, "While you think you have 



emancipated black men, I tell you that yon have emancipated more white than 
black men from the insolent domination of the slaveholder. It is the p;reatost 
work of the age. Awful indeed are the ruins of this terrible rebellion. 'Oh 
bloodiest picture in the book of time.' And yet out of all this gloomy scene 
beams a light to illumine the world in future years." Andrew Johnson is ^7/c 
man to rally the masses of the South, who are henceforth to be its rulers, and 
I mistake if we do not yet see God's special providence in his election. 

And yet once more : Slavery is the great problem of the war. Our whole 
future turns on the national solution of this problem. For whether we will or 
not, providence will have this question settled right. Slavery must not only 
cease in name but in spirit. The slave must bo treated as a man ; as a man 
before the law having all the rights of a man; and as a man for whom Chiist 
died, and whom he redeemed with his blood. Since the death of Abraham 
Lincoln there is no man sustains so hopeful a relation to slavery as Andrew 
Johnson. He, too, has issued his emancipation proclamation, and beyound a 
doubt he will maintain it. The most remarkable speech he ever made, was his 
speech just before his election as Vice President, at the Capital of Tennessee, 
with the whole yard about the Court-house filled with an immense congregation 
of those who had Hocked there, having escaped through the President's procla- 
mation from the prison-house of slavery. It was one of those moments, writes 
the reporter, when the speaker rising to the greatness ot the occasion seemed 
inspired, as he said, "Colored men of" Nashville, you have all heard the Presi- 
dent's proclamation. For certain reasons in the mind of the President it did 
not extend to you. But standing here upon the steps of the capitol, with the 
past history of the State to witness, the present condition to guide and its future 
to encourage me, /, Andrew Johnson, do hereby 2)roclavm freedom— full, broad 
and unconditional — to every man in Tennessee." Then flags waved, banners 
floated, drums beat, and, amid the cries and tears and uproar, the crowd shouted, 
"You are our Moses." "God," continued the speaker, "no doubt has prepared 
somewhere an instrumentality for the great work he designs to perform in behalf 
of this outraged people, and in due time your leader will come, your Moses will 
be revealed toyou." "We want no Moses but you," shouted the crowd. "Well 
then, humble and unworthj^ as I am, if no better shall be found, I will indeed 
be your Moses and lead you through the Red Sea of war and bondage to a fairer 
future of liberty and peace." Again we say wonderful is God's providence! 
For this same Moses hath God made ruler, that he may be a deliverer. And 
the whole nation are around him. He sustains a peculiar relationship, shared 
by no other man in the nation, to the whole South, both the bond and the free. 

In his inaugural he says, in effect, "Right shall be my motto and my guide — 
consequences are with God." Having solemnlj^ forsworn the foe that unmanned 
him on the day of his inauguration, which some believe to have been a cup pur- 
posely drugged with death, we pray he may have firmness of character enough 
to maintain that pledge and fight the hydra headed monster of intemperance 
as he has that of secession and slavery. In a friendty conversation between 
the President and Mr. Johnson, in regard to his inauguration weakness and 
disgrace^a conversation which reveals the hearts of both as in a mirror — the 
President said : " Mr. Johnson, the great heart of the American people is too 
generous to sacrifice a man for one fault." Mi: Johnson replied : "Mr. Presi- 
dent, It shall be the last." But time admonishes me, and I reluctantly close. 

My friends, we mourn to-day bowed down with a deep heart-sorrow. But we 
bless God that His providence is not dead; that His pillar of cloud and pillar of 
fire still leads our way ; and that He can make the assassin's dagger, through 
the life we lose, work out for the nation an exceeding "weight of glory." 

" May lli.s will not ours bo done. 
May llis v/ill and ours be one." 



LB S '12 



